More Californians would support CA secession
More Californians — but slightly fewer Americans — would support the Golden State’s withdrawal from the Union, according to a new poll feeding attention around a nascent movement to achieve a lawful, peaceful secession.
“About 32 percent of Californians want to create their own country, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found, including many Democrats who are frustrated with the election of President Trump,” the Hill reported. “Pollsters surveyed 500 Californians between Dec. 6 and Jan. 19. Nationally, 22 percent of respondents favor secession, they found” — a figure, like the California number, sure to have included some people with federalist or libertarian interests in seeing a discussion over the state’s status change.
“Still, half of Californians opposed the idea,” the Los Angeles Times reported, “though Democrats were more inclined to support it than Republicans. The survey found that 60 percent of Republicans gave the idea of peacefully seceding a thumbs down compared with 48 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of independents.”
In 2014, 24 percent of respondents nationwide were found to be amenable to California secession. But in-state, the new percentage represented a big jump. “The 32 percent support rate is sharply higher than the last time the poll asked Californians about secession, in 2014, when one-in-five or 20 percent favored it around the time Scotland held its independence referendum and voted to remain in the United Kingdom,” Newsmax noted.
Parting ways
Although peaceful secession has long been confined to the realm of political fantasy, California’s perceived increased deviation from broader political trends nationwide has helped ensure the scheme a prominent place in the popular imagination and the press. “Even though California is the most populous state in the union and has the sixth-largest economy in the world, secession would be, realistically speaking, very difficult,” as the San Francisco Chronicle noted. “Two-thirds of Congress and three-quarters of U.S. states (at least 38) would need to approve of the creation of an amendment that would allow for the legality of the state’s withdrawal.” But California Democrats, leery of losing ground on several fronts, have taken advantage of the state’s big popular vote margin in favor of Hillary Clinton to promise a continuation of their hallmark policies.
“It may not be ‘Calexit’ — the name of a decidedly quixotic campaign for California to withdraw from the union — but it is turning into what is, for all intents and purposes, a slow-motion secession,” the New York Times suggested. “California is becoming to Mr. Trump what Texas — which is as Republican as California is Democratic — was to President Obama: a sea of defiance and a potential source of unending legal and legislative challenges.” On the other hand, “it will be difficult for California to promote the kind of spending program[s] lawmakers want to make up for cuts in Washington, particularly on health care,” the Times observed, complicating the rosy picture summoned by secessionist leaders of a prosperous march to the beat of the state’s own drum.
Style or substance
For members of Yes California, the quixotic group working hardest toward secession, the increased popularity of a break with the union came as welcome news that seemed to square with their expectations. “We always thought that if we just connected with the people who thought about this, but didn’t tell their friends and family because they would be seen as kooky and weird, that the quiet population would become vocal,” as Marcus Evans, vice president of Yes California, told the Sacramento Bee.
Nevertheless, growing support could be largely symbolic — a familiar way of expressing dissatisfaction with national politics. “California isn’t the only state which has flirted with abandoning the U.S.,” as HotAir pointed out. “Prior to the election, Public Policy Polling, which often asks gag questions intended to embarrass Republicans, found that 40 percent of Texans would consider secession if Clinton won the election.”
30 comments
Write a comment
Related Articles
Dems stop bills to ease gas price hike
Perhaps the last chance to head off a California gasoline price hike that could exceed 50 cents per gallon
CA cracks down on medical pot growers
Marijuana has rocketed to the top of California’s list of cash crops, sucking an outsized — and illegal — amount
Mansoor Siding With Big Government
MARCH 24, 2011 By STEVEN GREENHUT I just heard from Assemblyman Allan Mansoor’s office and learned that the Costa Mesa
I’m a BIG supporter of a progressive CalExit. But not for the same reasons as the progressives. My column:
“The Conservative Case for the Progressives’ CalExit Movement”
by Richard Rider
Currently California liberals are enjoying fantasizing about their state seceding from the Union — a process labeled “CalExit.” Legally it’s a silly idea. Though technically possible, it will never happen, for Constitutional and political reasons. But putting reality aside, is it a good idea? Oddly enough, I think it is.
Some of my conservative friends are unhappy about the proposal, even though they understand that ultimately it’s going nowhere. My frequent ally, attorney Kevin Dayton, presented his cogent arguments against allowing the CalExit proponents to even start circulating signatures for an official CA CalExit ballot proposition — a prop for what is surely a hair-brained, illegal idea. He posits a set of circumstances where the idea might actually come to pass.
http://www.flashreport.org/blog/2016/12/20/your-public-comment-can-help-keep-calexit-petitions-off-the-street-where-they-dont-belong/
But I disagree with his opposition. I like the idea of a liberal CalExit — even though ultimately it would cause my family to reluctantly say good-bye to the Golden State. Bear with me (so to speak).
Imagine, if you will, Donald Trump proposing interning all the liberals in the nation in one big compound a la the U.S. policy regarding Japanese descendants in WWII. Trump would deny these denizens the right to vote on anything but matters within the camp. Upon hearing this idea, those U.S. progressives (easily offended souls — many of whom would not survive their resulting heart attacks) would be apoplectic — and for good reason.
But that progressive internment camp is EXACTLY what CalExit progressives are proposing to do to themselves. CalExit would establish a VOLUNTARY internment camp that likely would draw liberals from across the nation like looters to a CVS store — progressives fleeing America. This is an opportunity for an unforced, humane, nonviolent “ethnic cleansing” of a sort — except that only one’s political viewpoint rather than one’s race or religion would be the determining factor. And arguably one’s degree of economic illiteracy.
Such a voluntary separation of adversaries into different countries is not without precedent. Consider the separation of the Hindus and Muslims in India — the Muslims mostly emigrating to Pakistan. While our nation’s internal level of political violence doesn’t even begin to compare with the horrors of that bloody religious warfare, it does suggest a relatively peaceful solution to what is becoming an intractable American problem.
Even if ONLY California progressives split off in this new nation and no one fled the state, it would swing the national vote to conservative. Hillary’s 2.9 million national popular vote margin was dependent on its 4.27 million vote margin of victory in California.
But the effect of CalExit would be far, FAR larger. Like the experience in India where Hindus fled Pakistan to friendly India, many conservatives and libertarians would flee the new nation of Taxifornia to more sane havens in the other states. But more important would be the mass migration of clueless liberals to their Left Coast workers’ paradise. The only pockets of liberal group-thought remaining in America would be found on our college campuses (most insular professors would never give up their tenure and easy jobs), but over time that that liberal domination of higher education can be weakened using TRUE diversity hiring practices.
Just imagine: Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Barbara Streisand, Barry Sanders, the Clintons, George Soros, the Dixie Chicks, Oprah Winfrey, our Hollywood elitists, legions of our Fourth Estate — all emigrating to the new nation of California. And let’s not forget Barack and Michelle Obama departing the U.S. — plus millions and millions of welfare recipients heading west to the progressives’ honeypot.
I can live with all that. Boy, can I ever!
I would look forward to the extravaganza upon the official formation of this new nation, an event that would parallel the gala launching of the Titanic. I do enjoy fireworks! Watching the USS Income Equality sail away over the horizon would be a bittersweet experience.
Admittedly there is a down side — for us non-progressive Californians. We don’t want to leave this lovely state. But to stay in this proposed socialist nation would be madness — and eventually maybe even deadly. Our wealth would be incrementally confiscated, our lives micromanaged (even more than now) and we’d be the object of scorn and envy of our fellow countrymen. It would be a society obsessed with robbing the have’s for the benefit of the have not’s. Until there were no more have’s to rob.
My family does not want to leave. But we would if CalExit came to pass. And speaking personally, it would be worth this sacrifice to rid my country of its Big Government aficionados.
Ideally it would be better if the liberals choose some OTHER state — a less desirable state — to sail away in to their never-never land. Oregon comes to mind. Or Washington state. Better yet, Montana, which has a surprisingly high tax mentality.
But that’s just wistful thinking. Liberals have always felt that California was their Nirvana, so California it must be.
I have liberal friends. I’ve stopped trying to convince them of the folly of their reasoning — we tacitly agree not to discuss political matters. “Banal” is the word I would apply to many of our resulting conversations.
I would be sad to see them sequester themselves in a society which eventually will eat itself up — degenerating into another Venezuela (also once a prosperous nation). But I think we limited government advocates must be firm. I’m not a big fan of building walls along borders, but we’d need one separating the nation of California from the United States.
Like Muslim refugees, post-split California liberals seeking reentry to America should be considered a danger to our country. Their poisonous ideas and voting patterns would only harm America and liberty itself. Only after an exhaustive vetting process that confirms that their disillusion with collectivism is complete (and real) should any of them be allowed to migrate back. If any at all.
Bottom line: I’ll be voting for CalExit. Bring it! Freedom has a cost, and I’m willing to pay it.
They’d be begging us and/or the U.N. for welfare within 2 years.
Wouldn’t that be sweet? That ALONE is enough for me to support CalExit!!
Excellent idea. Let them stew in their bad decision for a change. Looking forward to when I can secede myself away from California.
It is my opinion that the people who are calling for secession, whether they be liberal, conservative, libertarian or populist, are not using their little gray cells. Or, they are certifiable.
Those that claim we are sending more money to Washington, D.C. than we are getting back aren’t looking at the whole picture.
If California secedes, there is a long list of things that somebody will have to do because the U.S. Government ain’t a-gonna be there to do them.
Also, the feds own most of the State anyway–do you think they are just going to let a bunch of secessionists have all that land? Some of it is in military installations, folks. Do you think the U.S. is going to let a seceded California get their hands on them? The security of the country depends upon these bases.
I am hoping that people come to their senses before this gets very far. Because, folks, I think we’ll all be very sorry if this actually comes to pass.
Wow, a liberal poll says more Californians would ike to exit union. Cal watchdog is such a liberal hack org.
Comrades
The new constitution will eliminate private property rights stripping you of your home and property investments in the name of The State….
You will live with, among and equally share with assigned Visigoths the prior fruits of a lifetime of saving and investing.
You will be poor nothing more-
A couple of points. First, I doubt seriously that, were California to exit, she would go alone. There has been exit interest along the entire west coast, as well as in Nevada. Also, were that split were to gain momentum, I would not be surprised to see several states in the Northeast looking at following suit.
There also seems to be at least some interest in shown by Canada in having those seceding states become a eleventh province (Cascadia?), which would certainly resolve the military question. In addition, the Canadians are generally not crazy (unlike broad swaths of our mid-west and south), except when it comes to hockey, of course…
Historically, where a state has split from their political unit (read the former members of the USSR), all bases and land formally ‘owned’ by the motherland, became part of the New State. Another part of the split would be the Social Security Trust Fund. The funds contributed and interest accrued is the property of exiting citizens. Having those funds leave the system would certainly have an interesting effect on the Social Security system.
Will it happen? Likely not, but it would be far more damaging to the 46 remaining US states than you imagine. California alone is the sixth-largest economy in the world. Having every port on the west coast disappear into Cascadia would severely limit access of the 46 states to the entire Pacific Rim. And if Cascadia were to become part of Canada, our present lopsided relationship would be turned on it’s pointy little head.
This has nothing to do with the people to begin with. Ole Commandant Brown and his cronies are in this for themselves. Period. They are up to no good just like always. They don’t give a hoot for the people , unless you are an illegal alien, gang member, drug pusher. This is about them.
Can the other states vote another state out? That would be a landslide. Expect another 50 million from south of us to join the fun, I like the idea of cinder block housing along the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach with the laundry dryng and litlle kids with pails in the sandtraps. Seals on rocks observing and saying WTF, What happened?
I think it is strange how nobody even mentions splitting California up into two or more states anymore.
If California secedes, it means Californians will have to fund their own Obamacare-style medical insurance. With what money?
If California secedes, the Federal Government is not going to give the ceded state any Social Security money because it is not kept in separate little accounts according to who contributed. It exists in IOUs.
If California secedes, its national parks will no go quietly. These belong to the American people, not to California.
If California secedes, the Interstate Highways will no longer be funded by the U.S. Government.
If California secedes, depending upon what sort of government we end up with, adjacent states may not want to allow free-passage from California to their jurisdictions. That means we will have to have passports or visas.
If California secedes, the freight being hauled in and out by railroad and trucking firms will be crossing in and out of the U.S., and will have to be inspected at the borders. This will increase costs to sellers and buyers, including you.
If California secedes, we will no longer enjoy the protections of the U.S. Constitution, or be able to take our cases to the Supreme Court, or have a say in who gets elected to be President of the U.S., or be represented by 2 U.S. Senators and 53 Congressmen. No voice in Washington, D.C.
If California secedes, the state will become a magnet for criminals of every description because it will not have the resources to deal with organized crime (most particularly, the data on file of the Who’s Who of Crime), or foreign criminals whose operations are active here.
If California secedes, we will be the laughing stock of the rest of the U.S. for a long, long time. That’s the best-case scenario. Worst-case is if there is a subsequent movement to join-up with some totalitarian regime who would love to get their hands on our resources and close proximity to the U.S.
If California secedes, there will be widespread chaos and many people will suffer–like those on Social Security, Disability, Medi-Care, and so forth. The state does not have to resources to take on this burden.
If California secedes, U.S. military installations will not suddenly belong to the new state, they will not belong to California. But, the U.S. Government could relocate them elsewhere.
If California secedes, the international trade that comes through California will be relocated to Oregon and Washington.
If California secedes, every private national organization and public agency will be affected in one way or another, for the worse.
Think about it, folks. Think!
Secession is not the solution to our problems with the Federal Government.
“Secession is not the solution to our problems…”
Correct. But the first thing California liberals need to do is be honest with themselves. Like an alcoholic, they have to admit they have a problem. They were screaming “Secession!” before Trump was President….before he did even a single thing. Their problem is one I’ve seen many times…..in a nursery. Spoiled children that are used to getting what they want when they want it, always stomp their feet and scream “Unfair!!!” when they don’t get their way. And if denied they will refuse to engage with the other children until their continued tantrums cause the other children to acquiesce to their demands of…. “Do-over!!!”
I believe you have diagnosed the problem correctly. I have long thought that there needs to be a Twelve-Step Program for this sort of dysfunction. But I can never figure out what to call it. Any ideas?
What would Ca. do in the case of a foreign invasion?
We already know the answer to your question Bruce. California would give them free medical, free education, your children’s scholarships, and a get-out-of-jail card when they kill someone. They would also give them our jibs.
Progressives are really into labels. We have a self proclaimed “Latino, Vegetarian, gay” Board of Supervisor member in SF. My daughter said how can that be, he eats meat.These young people are so smart.
Love secession. Motto for it, MCGA….Make California Great Again.
“Please secede, Make my fkg day.” That is the attitude of the US.
From the Midwest. Please secede Califorication. Make America Great Again!
The us here in Northern California/Southern Oregon can form the STAT of JEFFERSON and let them fools become part of mexico with Moonbeam as their fuhrer
https://youtu.be/_Faj0obIhs8
Comrades
Forgotten are the globalists who now must pay protection donations to the new Commissars….pity…..and corporate food barons….on my…..
The State education system is so broken that enlightened a generation of useful idiots to this stab at Command living-
I’m all for Calexit. Please go. It will make it much easier for us oppressed north and eastern Californians to break away from the oppressive newly formed nation of Mexifornia.
There’s no way the we can live under a coastal elite oppressive and kleptocratic communist government.
I like our odds since we have the guns ammo and savvy to pull it off. If the new nation libsheep ever lose their irrational fear of guns and come after us we’ll ask for help from the federal United States.
After the war of liberation, we will rightly retake our place in the union with the real United States of America as its newest state.
Other considerations for Secessionists to consider:
If California secedes from the U.S., there will be a serious period of adjustment at San Francisco, San Pedro and San Diego harbors. These ports are where trade good from the East enter the United States. If California is no longer part of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nation, these goods will be shipped to ports in Washington and Oregon instead. This means a HUGE loss of good jobs for people who live near those ports. It means a HUGE loss of freight to be hauled by railroad to places like Salt Lake City, Omaha, St. Louis, New Orleans, Chicago, Columbus, and the East Coast. It means a loss of business to delivery services and trucking firms who carry these goods in smaller quantities or to destinations closer to the ports. It means all the commercial enterprises that serve the dock-workers and truckers will lose customers. It means many businesses, large and small, will be relocating to someplace inside the U.S. It means we won’t be celebrating Fourth of July anymore. It means our God-given rights will no longer be protected by the U.S. Constitution (yes, I know, right now they are being infringed upon, but Calexit would guarantee we would probably lose them altogether). It means local and state governments will lose revenue. It means real-estate values will collapse. It means your plans for retirement will probably have to be revised. It means there will be less reason for anybody to invest in California for any reason. It means schools will lose students and revenue. It means Law Enforcement will lose the expert forensic assistance of the FBI in solving crimes. It means the California National Guard will go somewhere else. It means we will not have the comforting presence of the U.S. Coast Guard patrolling our shore. It means Metrolink and Amtrak may not cross the border to provide service to a foreign country. It means we will be on our own if some foreign warmongering dictator decides to launch a missile in our direction as a way of causing trouble for the U.S. It means a whole lot of trouble, folks. The more I think about it, the worse it gets.
Jerry Brown has the power to make it happen.
I’m all for the Sovereign California Republic if
Jerry leads the way and limits his first term as
President to 5 years.
Will the ballot initiative be on the ballot by the next election?
Why not?
Comrade Mikeee
You will be cleaned out day after the positive vote……pity
Is ‘Queeg’ Chris Semler?
Queeg works in Ulysses Uhaul’s busy busy rental yard hitching Doomers for their last ride to Redneck Utopia.
Must not be too bad over there in Redneck Utopia because none of them ever come back.
Guess that’s why it costs twice as much to rent one of your squeaky wheel bearing, bald tired and unsafe trailers to flee the state as it does for the same trailer to come back to Cali.
You and A-haul may call them rednecks but they ain’t stupid. After fleeing the liberal tyranny of Commiefornia no one ever comes back here to resume their former status as tax pinatas and government serfs.
1/3 of the people who live in the northern part of the state would do what West Virginia did when Virginia joined the Confederacy and that is become another state! 21 counties have declared Unity with the USA and will ask to become the 51st (or 50th!) State of Jefferson. soj51.net https://youtu.be/_Faj0obIhs8
As the article suggests, easier said than done. Additionally, I think taxes would skyrocket and no federal funding. Probably not a good idea